French Open 2015 Results: Winners, Scores, More from Wednesday's Singles Bracket
It didn't take long at Roland Garros for one of the top seeds to fall, as Wednesday's start of the second round at the 2015 French Open sent a first-rate championship contender home packing.
Third-seeded Simona Halep was the victim, losing to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni to become the second women's top-10 seed already usurped at the year's second Grand Slam. The trend of upsets didn't exactly continue throughout Day 4 with all other top-20 seeds in both draws advancing, but early challenges did prove too much for a handful of lower-seeded players.
Let's take a look at who advanced to the third round from Wednesday's action.
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2015 French Open Scores: Wednesday, May 27
| No. 2 Roger Federer def. Marcel Granollers | 6-2, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 |
| No. 4 Tomas Berdych def. Radek Stepanek | 6-3, 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, 6-3 |
| No. 5 Kei Nishikori def. Tomaz Bellucci | 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 |
| No. 8 Stan Wawrinka def. Dusan Lajovic | 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 |
| No. 12 Gilles Simon def. Martin Klizan | 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 |
| No. 13 Gael Monfils def. Diego Schwartzman | 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 |
| No. 14 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Dudi Sela | 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 |
| Nicolas Mahut def. No. 24 Ernests Gulbis | 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 |
| No. 21 Pablo Cuevas vs. Dominic Thiem | 7-6 (9-7), 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5 |
| Benjamin Becker def. No. 32 Fernando Verdasco | 6-4, 0-6, 1-6, 7-5, 10-8 |
| Benoit Paire def. No. 28 Fabio Fognini | 6-1, 6-3, 7-5 |
| No. 2 Maria Sharapova vs. Vitalia Diatchenko | 6-3, 6-1 |
| Mirjana Lucic-Baroni def. No. 3 Simona Halep | 7-5, 6-1 |
| No. 7 Ana Ivanovic def. Misaki Doi | 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 |
| No. 11 Angelique Kerber def. Ajla Tomljanovic | 6-3, 6-2 |
| No. 9 Ekaterina Makarova def. Teliana Pereira | 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 |
| No. 13 Lucie Safarova def. Kurumi Nara | 6-2, 6-0 |
| No. 19 Elina Svitolina def. Yulia Putintseva | 1-6, 7-5, 9-7 |
| No. 20 Sabine Lisickie def. Daria Gavrilova | 6-1 (retired) |
| No. 21 Garbine Muguruza def. Camila Giorgi | 6-1, 6-4 |
Complete results at RolandGarros.com.
No. 2 Roger Federer def. Marcel Granollers
The last time Marcel Granollers and Roger Federer faced off at a Grand Slam, Granollers gave the living legend everything he could ask for and more. He claimed a two-sets-to-none lead at the 2014 U.S. Open, only to allow Federer to battle back and claim victory.
This time around, Federer didn't look interested in giving his opponent any daylight. He dominated the opening set and overcame a tough deficit in the second set, cruising to a 6-2, 7-6, 6-3 second-round win and improving to 4-0 all-time against the Spaniard.
After taking the first set in style, Federer had plenty of reason for concern after conceding a break to Granollers to start set No. 2. But that didn't give him any worry, as he told Roland Garros of his command on the match:
That early second-set break seemed to wake Federer up. He rallied back, dominated the tiebreaker and finished with a vintage performance, winning 30 of 37 points at the net and taking 82 percent of his first-serve points with 38 winners to Granollers' 17.
Up next for Federer is the task of facing Damir Dzumhur, a young up-and-comer who idolized Federer growing up. At least the Swiss star has made himself available to his future opponent, popping in to congratulate him after his own second-round win, per Chiara Gambuzza of TennisWorldItalia.com:
This isn't the first—or second or third—time that Federer has gone up against a young phenom who grew up respecting him, and in many cases it produces an exciting match with the youngster going all out to prove himself. But Federer's quality usually shines through, and it should be expected to do so again in a couple of days.
No. 13 Gael Monfils def. Diego Schwartzman
As one would expect due to his exhilarating style of play and unpredictability, 13th-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils produced arguably the most exciting match of the tournament thus far with his five-set victory over Diego Schwartzman.
Monfils struggled with consistency early on in Wednesday's late match, dropping two of the opening three sets and putting his back against the wall. That's a place where Monfils has thrived at times in his playing career, and he did so again Wednesday.
Many of his nine double-faults came early, but he began getting his serve together in set No. 4. Monfils finished with a whopping 21 aces to Schwartzman's four, helping him to win a total of 152 points in the match.
Although the local countryman injected some life into Wednesday's matches with an instant-classic affair, tennis journalist Simon Cambers sarcastically wondered whether it would lead to his demise yet again:
There may be more realistic French contenders in the mix like Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Gilles Simon—both of whom won easily Wednesday. None of them can match the mixture of surprising power and speed that Monfils can bring when he's truly clicking—as hit-or-miss as that may be.
With Monfils' win, he advances to play No. 21 Pablo Cuevas in the third round. That matchup between seeded foes, however, pales in comparison to a potential fourth-round matchup with Federer should both advance.
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni def. No. 3 Simona Halep
Halep's quest to climb the ranks and permanently emerge as a first-rate contender in women's tennis took a significant hit in a rough straight-set loss to Lucic-Baroni—marking her second loss to the Croatian in three Grand Slam meetings.
The 23-year-old Romanian hung around in the opening set, more due to Lucic-Baroni's unforced errors than her own play. Once she let that first set slip, the towel was inevitably thrown as Halep dropped the second and final set 6-1.
The stats tell the entire story. Lucic-Baroni hit 29 winners, nearly six times Halep's five winners on the match (yes, five). Halep won 17 of 51 receiving points, while Lucic-Baroni was a perfect 8-for-8 at the net.
As told by New York Times' Ben Rothenberg, Halep only has herself to blame:
At least Halep had a strong mentality in the midst of an inexplicable loss, per Roland Garros:
To say this wasn't expected of Halep would be a vast understatement. She soared to stardom in 2014 by getting to the French Open final before the Wimbledon semifinals and dominated the early rounds at Roland Garros last year by only conceding 11 games in her first three victories.
Along with Halep's rise have come sky-high expectations, as told by her No. 3 overall seed. She has more than justified that seed throughout the last two years but will need to find her game before Wimbledon or risk slipping in the rankings.
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